Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

“Mr. Lin, nice to meet you!”

The middle-aged man greeted Lincoln as soon as he saw him get out of the car.

Lincoln walked up quickly and took the initiative to extend his left hand.

The man hesitated slightly, but in the next moment, he extended his remaining left hand with a sincere smile and shook hands with Lincoln.

“Mr. Zhou, nice to meet you. I’m sorry to have troubled you to come out to meet us.”

“Not at all, Mr. Lin. Your willingness to take over this factory is a great help. It’s only right for me to come and meet you,” said the middle-aged man, whose name was Zhou Jingzheng, the owner of the factory.

He was quite open about the difficulties the factory faced, “Besides, it’s just a short walk.”

“Mr. Zhou, could you please show us around the factory?”

“Of course, please follow me!” Mr. Zhou led Lincoln and Yue Pengju into the unmanned factory, meticulously introducing the place as they walked.

Soon, Lincoln found that the factory’s situation was much better than he had

Based on the owner’s introduction and Lincoln’s observations, the factory was not lacking in equipment.

When they initially updated the equipment, they not only spent all of the factory’s savings but also took out substantial loans. The factory’s veteran employees also dutifully and carefully performed regular maintenance on the equipment. Thus, even now, the factory’s facilities were fully adequate.

The only problem was—lack of orders.

Transitioning from a wartime to a peaceful society brought about deep-seated and lingering pain.

With military demand decreasing dramatically, the rate at which new industries emerged couldn’t match the speed of numerous factory bankruptcies.

Meanwhile, Mr. Zhou was a military veteran who had retired due to injury, and many of the factory’s technicians were also former military personnel.

According to Mr. Zhou, before the factory was automated, the majority of the workers were also retired military personnel who had transitioned to civilian work. However, as the factory’s situation continued to worsen, many people without technical skills voluntarily left to avoid burdening the others and sought opportunities elsewhere.

Nevertheless, the reduction in staff didn’t save the factory. Without orders, revenue couldn’t cover expenses, and they couldn’t repay the loans on the equipment.

If it weren’t for the overall respect for retired military personnel in Daxia society and the assistance of government policies, the factory would have been auctioned to cover the debts long ago.

So buying this factory meant addressing two problems: repaying the bank loans and retaining the existing staff.

Mr. Zhou was very candid, “Mr. Lin, that’s the situation. I won’t hide anything from you. Not all of the staff who remain here are technically skilled. Many older employees have spent their whole lives working in the factory. Their skills are outdated, but when I took over the factory, I promised not to abandon anyone.”

“I’ve done everything I can so that at least the factory can continue operating until these older workers retire. They can receive their pensions, and they’ll have some security in the latter half of their lives.” At this point, his eyes reddened, “However, I’m limited in my abilities. Right now, in the factory, we can’t even afford to pay their retirement insurance.”

After a pause, he said with difficulty, “I really don’t have any other options.”

“The factory still owes the bank 60 million. If you can guarantee not to lay off any employees and let them retire safely, you just need to pay another 50 million, and the factory will be yours.”

This was indeed a fire sale price. If they could sell the equipment and assembly lines, they could repay the loan just from the sale of those items. Unfortunately, they couldn’t sell them, and if they did, the factory would lose its operating qualifications.

Everyone would have to disband.

Lincoln glanced at the remaining more than a hundred employees in the factory. Most of them were over 55 years old. Among them, true technicians might account for less than half, and nearly half had varying degrees of disabilities.

“How much is the monthly salary for these employees?”

“Including insurance, it’s about 650,000 in total for everyone per month.”

“650,000.” Lincoln repeated the number softly, considering the 1 billion on his corporate account that he hadn’t spent yet. He also thought about the nearly 10 million in savings in his personal account. It didn’t seem like a lot.

Considering that nearly a hundred people were involved, and technical staff would definitely earn more than ordinary employees. Deducting pension insurance, many people might only receive three to four thousand per month.

Lincoln couldn’t help but recall a saying he’d heard before—

With 2 million, one could actually buy out the lives of many people.

Seeing Lincoln’s silence, Mr. Zhou thought he was asking for a lower price. Biting the bullet, he said, “We can reduce it further. I’ll talk to them, and they’ll understand.”

“No need. I’ll buy the factory,” Lincoln decided without further deliberation.

“Huh?” Lincoln’s decisiveness caught the middle-aged man off guard.

“However, I have one request.”

“”You tell me.”

“I want you to stay and continue as the factory manager, how about that?”

“Huh?” Zhou Jingzheng was surprised by this request, “Of course, no problem.”

If he continued as the factory manager, he could take better care of these old employees.

“Early tomorrow morning, the money will be transferred.” When Lincoln made up his mind, he wouldn’t hesitate, especially during this critical time when time was most precious.

“There are three things I need you to do.”

“Please say!” Determination filled Zhou Jingzheng’s voice. As long as he could help the factory and workers through the crisis, he was willing to do anything.

“First: Pay off the loans. Second, increase the salary of technical staff by one-third, and provide an extra subsidy for disabled employees, raising the total monthly wage to 800,000.”

Lincoln had already inquired, in an effort to help the factory survive, the pay of technical staff had been reduced twice, and the second round of cuts was even voluntary.

Now that he was to buy this factory, he certainly couldn’t let the technical professionals suffer any longer.

However, he couldn’t raise their salary too much at once without showing some results.

“Finally, adjust the production line and get ready to start work!”

“No problem!” Zhou Jingzheng’s eyes were moist with emotion. “Shall I gather everyone together so they can meet their new boss and announce the good news?”

“No need, no need.” Lincoln hurriedly waved his hand in refusal, “There is no need for that, just continue as before. I’ll go arrange the legal stuff and contracts, let’s end it here for today.”

“Alright.” Despite Lincoln’s refusal, Zhou Jingzheng insisted on escorting him to his car and stood there waving goodbye as the car drove away.

Everything’s settled! Lincoln clapped his hands together, quite satisfied.

His factory was now secure; would the Spaceship be far behind?

Of course, of course, he still needed to keep his feet on the ground. For now, the priority was to produce Cloud Dream virtual reality game consoles.

He originally thought it would be a troublesome task, even having Randall approach another factory in advance. But he hadn’t expected to secure his own factory for Cloud Dream so quickly.

Now he needed to inform Randall to slow down the process.

No matter what, he had to increase the production capacity of his own factory first. According to Lincoln’s estimate, if Zhou Jingzheng’s factory operated at full production capacity, it would produce less than 1 million units per week.

Adjusting the production line and increasing production capacity would take some time.

But that wasn’t a problem: Expanding the existing factory’s capacity was much simpler than starting from scratch to build a new one.

Inside the factory, Zhou Jingzheng excitedly announced the good news to the old employees.

“Mr. Lin has decided to buy the factory, help clear the bank loans, and the order issue has been resolved!”

“The factory will not only survive but also regain its vitality soon, and production will be resumed at full speed!”

“No one will be laid off!”

“All technical staff will get a raise!”

“Disabled employees will receive an extra subsidy!” “If production goes well, all employees will receive a bonus!”

“Our hard days are coming to an end!”

At that moment, cheers filled the factory, and many people even turned their heads to secretly wipe away their tears.

Seeing all this, Zhou Jingzheng felt immense gratitude towards Lincoln.

Unlike these grateful employees, NetDragon’s Flaming Project Team harbored resentment.

Many of them no longer wanted to continue tolerating the situation.

Including Fred and four middle managers, 18 subordinates took their resignation letters and knocked on the door of the Human Resources

Department office..”